Some stakeholders in the agriculture sector are reporting a shortage of lettuce and tomatoes.And they are blaming heavy rainfall for the scarcity.Chief executive officer of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul and president of the Barbados Association of Retailers, Vendors and Entrepreneurs (BARVEN) Alister Alexander told Barbados TODAY that farmers were experiencing challenges during the wet season as the rain was destroying their crops and saturating their fields.“Yes they are scarce and it is because of the climatic conditions,” said Alexander. “At this time of year you will have scarcity of most crops, it is a norm and it is not a sign that farmers are not planting as some people may think. In Barbados we experience scarcity and glut and they are associated with the seasons.“In the dry season we get glut and in the wet season we get scarcity. How do we solve this problem? BARVEN has put forward a suggestion to Government that we look at a planned planting regime for the nation to prevent everybody planting the same thing at the same time. We suggested that more farmers needed greenhouses, which would allow them to plant crops during the wet season that wouldn’t be damaged by the rain . . .”
